The Soldier and The Beast
by framesonthewall
Summary: Once upon a time there was a prince... just kidding, it was an engineer but he still got cursed. This isn't only his story though. (Howard/Steve)
1. Chapter 1

The sun was high and bright and the light shone in and fell over the sketches Steve was working on. He looked up when there was a knock on his front door. In one corner of the room, not too far from his desk, Bucky's rifle, along with his own shield leaned against the wall. He only glanced at them once before getting up from his seat and crossing the room.

Peggy stood on the mat outside his house. There was a worried frown on her face, only barely visible but Steve had known her for so long he couldn't miss it. She smiled softly, carefully, when she saw him.

"Hello Peggy, how can I help you?" He asked, maybe slightly colder than he would have done in the past.  
She bowed her head in acceptance of his tone, but didn't back down. He hadn't expected anything differently. He was glad that she didn't. He was glad that she didn't leave him alone after all that happened.

"Have you heard about the old mansion in the woods?" She inquired, visibly unwilling to just come out with the request that would undoubtedly follow. The two of them didn't talk as much these days. They weren't as close as they used to be, but Steve could still read her and knew that she could read him as well.

"Yes. It's abandoned as far as I know." He responded, leaning against the frame of his door, crossing his arms. Once upon a time he would have asked her to come inside.

"Rumors have it that it isn't." Peggy said.

Steve lifted a brow in question and Peggy explained. "There have been strange noises coming from the mansion and animals have been found dead near it. Farmers complain about cattle going missing. No one bothered to investigate before, because... because of the war." She hesitated at that last part. "Now people want to know if there is a dangerous creature roaming these woods and living in the old house." Peggy finished.

"And people want me to take a look?" Steve clarified.

Peggy looked away for a moment and absently smoothed a hand over her stomach. "I would go, but..." she shrugged her shoulders apologetically.

Steve tilted his head in understanding to what she hadn't said. A sad smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. He wondered if, had the last years gone differently, this would be his child growing inside of her.  
Their little village was nearly cut off from the rest of the world by its position in this deep valley. Only rarely did people beyond the wandering traders come across the ragged mountains. Two years ago there had been refugees seeking shelter here but they had left after the war had ended, returning to their own homes.

Many villagers had left before that to fight in hopes of keeping the foreign soldiers at bay and away from  
the valley, so it may stay a peaceful place. Peggy and Steve had been one of the only ones to return, so far. Steve re-focused his gaze on Peggy from where he had drifted off, caught in the memory. He avoided her worried eyes as he answered. "I will take a look into it." He promised.

"Thank you." She said and nodded her head in farewell before turning on her heels and walking away. Steve watched her go, then stepped back into his house and closed the door.

Steve took his pistol, a knife, and his shield with him when he went to the mansion later the same day. The forest was dangerous and he liked to be prepared.

He left his cottage and walked over the dusty cobbled street to approach the woods surrounding the village. A few craftsmen followed him with their eyes as he went past before the undergrowth swallowed him from sight.

The mansion had belonged to the Stark family before they had disappeared in the chaos of the war. Now the house stood empty, or so it was said, although not many had gone there except for the occasional child or teenager because of a dare or to prove their courage to their friends.

All of them had returned unharmed, but rumors had started about strange noises and even stranger footsteps that had started surrounding the house. The steps were big and clawed like a giant wolf but there were only ever two, as if the being that made them walked on two legs like a human.

Steve hadn't, so far, wasted any thoughts on these rumors. People liked to talk. People in small villages liked to talk even more, or so it seemed. They also talked about him, to be sure, and he liked to think that the rumors about the mansion were meant to keep overcurious individuals away, so that they would not hurt themselves. A house that stood empty this long must be ramshackle already with an unstable structure. He would be surprised if parts of it hadn't collapsed already.

Steve kept his eyes open as he walked through the forest. Once he saw a blue feathered bird, a kind he had never seen here before but the light was dim and it was hard to tell for sure. From the distance its strange but beautiful song reached his ears.

For the most part the woods were safe except for the occasional wolf and bear. Although, as if by a mutual accord, they kept away from the village and the villagers didn't actively hunt them. It was almost like magic.

The sun was already starting to set when Steve entered the clearing on which the manor stood.  
It looked cold and uninviting from afar and that impression did not ease as he approached. A fence surrounded the estate with a gate located not too far from Steve's current position. He ignored the gate and searched for a spot of the metal fence that was a bit off to the side and half covered with trees. It was better to be safe than sorry, should there really be something intelligent and sinister in there. From his current position he could see that the lawn was well kept. There were no weeds to be seen anywhere and the grass was a palm's breadth high. It was peculiar. He wondered why that was not part of the rumors. A moment later he found a suitable spot and with practiced ease he climbed over the structure.

He kneeled down on the other side to draw a hand over the grass. It prickled his hands, unyielding under his palm and surprising evenly cut. Doubts about the real state of the manor stirred in him but he stood and kept walking until he finally entered the house through one of the windows.

Steve touched down on the floors of the mansion's library. The room was huge and with volumes upon volumes of books stacked into shelves reaching from floor to ceiling. He looked around and slowly crept forward. Some of the wooden bookracks were broken, only a skeleton of it standing in its place but any splinters and waste seemed to have been cleaned away. In some places the cracked shelves had been crudely fixed with scraps of wood. There was only a little dust here and there.

It made Steve nervous. He didn't like to know that he probably broke into an occupied house right now. Maybe bandits had made the manor their lair, but he doubted that they would keep the place so clean.  
His boots made barely a sound on the marble floor. The room was washed in twilight and there were no motions in the deeper shadows.

Steve reached a door leading out of the room. Carefully he opened it just a crack and stepped out into a corridor. He left the big door open behind him to have an escape route.

With soft steps he turned right and moved deeper into the manor. Occasionally he saw half dead plants, as well as chests of drawers on either side of the corridor. Paintings of landscapes and portraits of people in rich looking clothes lined the walls and there were doors leading into big and small rooms. Sometimes there was a blank spot the size of a canvas, or a mirror.

Steve reached another door at the end and placed a hand on the handle.

Everything around him was silent.

Then a growl emitted from behind the ex-soldier. Steve spun around and came face to face with a set of big and sharp-looking teeth. Instinctively he raised his shield to block the claws swiping at his head. The blow threw him to the side and he hit the wall with a smack. For a moment he was disoriented. His head hurt. The next second his attacker grabbed him and threw him across the corridor. He came to lie on his stomach with his shield trapped under him and his arm twisted at a painful angle.

A claw caught a hold of his shoulder, drawing blood and turned him violently onto his back. The beast was terrifying. There was nothing else to call it. It was crouched over him, its paws held Steve pressed against the unforgiving ground as the tips of one claw started slicing through the fabric of his shirt and nicked his skin. The beast's snout was close to Steve's face; its fangs bared and a low growl omitting from its throat. The narrowed eyes of his attacker were looking right into his own.

Steve had never been easily scared in his life. The only times he had been was before his mother died and when his best friend had been mortally wounded in battle. Now he was scared again like he had not been for a long time.

Memories of a battle in which the enemy had let werewolves fight against them flashed in front of his eyes. His mind filled with the blood and shrieks of the dying long past; it all led to the memory of his best friend's pale face and empty eyes.

Unseeing he stared up at the beast's face in horror and inexplicably the beast slowly drew away. It kept its gaze fixed on Steve as it slowly withdrew and left the corridor, leaving the ex-soldier lying on the floor.

Steve couldn't move. His body was shaking all over. A few moments passed where he heard no sound of the monster before he was able to take a few calming breaths to slow down his racing heart. Trembling he got to his feet. He picked up his shield and without looking around he stumbled back the way that he had come.


	2. Chapter 2

Two days had passed since Steve had been at the beast's mansion. His whole body had been shaking when he had returned to the village. Peggy had seen him come back and quickly had him cornered. She asked him what he had seen but he couldn't talk to her. He couldn't talk at all. There had only been the all-encompassing need to hide, to get to a safe place, to get out of the too open street where he could feel the unkind eyes of the villagers on him. Later, when he had calmed down, something else had kept him from speaking with her. Instead he had sent her away and locked himself into his house.

Now, days later, his notebook was full of sketches of the manor and the library with its broken and crudely fixed bookshelves. The corridor with the blank spots on the wall. And the beast.

He couldn't get the creature out of his head, no matter how much he wished it away and tried to take his mind off it. By day he trained or drew until he fell into his bed in exhaustion. At night he lay awake. Nightmares dominated his dreams. Memories of the war...

There had been something in the beast's eyes before he had let Steve go...he shook his head and pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes until spots appeared in the blackness behind his closed lids. Then he rolled his weary body out of bed.

The moon hung full and bright in the night sky and bathed his bedroom with its light where it fell in through the window. Thoughtfully he looked outside. The streets were deserted and behind the houses of the village the forest loomed. Beyond that was the beast's manor.

Without thinking Steve got to his feet and dressed before closing the door behind him and stepping onto the street in front of his house.

The manor looked just as cold, dark, and uninviting as it had been days before. Steve hesitated where he stood in front of the sharp tipped fence. It wasn't the first time he had hesitated on his way here. He was still on relatively safe ground. He could still turn around and walk away and pretend he didn't have this foolish idea. He swallowed, squeezed his eyes tightly together, and then climbed over the fence. This was madness but some of his more risky maneuvers hadn't been much different. He remembered Bucky and Peggy berating him for it, but the risky plans had never failed.

With a smile he made his way over the damp lawn towards the manor.

He entered the manor quietly through a window and landed in the library again. Just like the last time there was little to no dust on any surface and the shelves that looked like they had been broken in the past were crudely fixed. Sometimes in the last few days he had pondered if he had imagined those little details.

Steve wondered if the beast somehow had people working for him and keeping the place clean. Maybe he had kidnapped somehow and forced them to do it. Watchful of his surroundings he crept forward. He would search the mansion, keep away from the beast if possible, and pray to Mother Luck that she would keep him safe and the creature at bay.

Even in the privacy of his own mind he had to admit the plan was stupid. He wished he had Peggy and Bucky at his back still. As much as they had sometimes berated him for his plans they had never doubted him and had always protected him. And he had returned the favor.

He crept forward just like the last time and entered the corridor again. At a slow pace he walked down the corridor, this time going in the other direction and stopped to peek into the rooms adjoined to it. The manor seemed to be empty and he almost rejoiced, when he became aware of eyes on him. He glanced behind himself out of the corner of his eyes and froze in his steps.

The beast was watching him from the far end of the corridor. It did not come closer and simply held its ground. The moonlight filtering in through the window was bright enough that Steve could get his first clear sight of it. His initial comparison with the werewolves he had fought proved to be correct. It looked like a giant wolf standing on its hind legs but with horns protruding from its forehead. From what Steve could tell from the distance it had dark eyes and dark dirty looking fur. Its tail lashed from left to right agitatedly behind it and there was a loin cloth wrapped around its middle, covering the groin. That, along with the horns, was a strange thing. Something that made Steve think that it ether wasn't a werewolf after all or one recently turned. He had also never met one that was ashamed of its "nudity" before nor had he ever heard that a recently turned werewolf could control themselves this well in this form.

Maybe it was something else after all.

Steve finished his observation of the room he was looking in, looking like a servant's room, and slowly left the manor again. He thought he felt the beast's eyes on his back until he was out of sight of the manor.

The next day he returned and the beast watched him from afar again, still not moving any closer.

For a week Steve returned every evening to the manor and worked his way through the rooms, picking up this and that to look at more closely. It almost became something of a ritual. Every day when he was done with the chores in his house and had finished the odd errand for someone in the village he came to the mansion. He had quickly found that the house was full of framed paintings and blinded mirrors. During most of his visits, the creature watched him but towards the end of the week Steve looked at the manor's rooms alone until he came to the door where he had been attacked for the first time. It led to the basement level.

The stairs were made of stone and looked worn where he stepped down. Scratches adorned them. Scratches that he had seen on the other stairs in the house. It seemed that the beast had trouble climbing them, considering his posture Steve was not altogether surprised when he stopped to think about it. Reaching the bottom there was a corridor lined with lit torches, that too something he had seen all over the house. Strange in the times of electricity, but not altogether surprising, either. What kind of Energy Company would provide service for an abandoned mansion? Steve couldn't really imagine the beast paying bills either. He snorted quietly to himself when his mind provided him with a visualization of a scene like that.

Smiling to himself Steve followed the corridor and stepped into a wide room.

The beast was sitting on a stool that barely seemed able to carry his weight. In front of him was a workbench and the walls were lined with shelves and cabinets holding all kinds of tools and machinery. Everything here looked just as neat and visibly damaged as the rest of the house.

Steve carefully stepped more fully into the room, keeping his eyes on the beast but not looking at it directly. The beast did not look up, its gaze fixed on a screwdriver that was dwarfed by its claws. The beast allowed the screwdriver to spin between its claws, almost absentmindedly. The beast still didn't look up even when Steve drew nearer.

Behind and to the side of the creature, out of the range of its arms, was a little shelf, which held a framed picture. Steve carefully moved towards it to get a better look. He tried to keep his movements non-threatening; being sure to kept his palms visible and turned toward the beast. Out of the corner of his eyes he watched it and saw the creature doing the same. It looked wary. When Steve reached the self he lifted an arm to see the image. It was a photograph.

"Don't touch that." The beast growled as he turned to look at him finally. It had a deep and pleasant voice.  
Steve froze and then slowly withdrew his hand from the frame. Steve looked back to the horned wolf and met its gaze.

"I'm sorry." Steve apologized when he had found his own voice again. "I didn't want to intrude."

The beast snorted at that. "And you did not intrude while you snooped through my house for the last week?" It asked sarcastically and moved to stand. With its back straight, not leaning over like Steve had seen every time until now, he surpassed Steve in height by more than a head. It looked down the lengths of its snout at him.

Steve cleared his throat. "You could have asked me to go." He answered and the beast bared his fangs at him. It was only after he had taken a step back did he realize that it was meant as its equivalent of an amused grin. By then the beast had covered his teeth again and hunched over. It growled at him but it seemed to be more annoyance, if at Steve or himself he couldn't tell.

"Wh-what is your name? And why didn't you chase me away?" Steve stuttered to cover the awkward silence that followed, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, and feeling the beast's eyes following the motion.

"Howard." The beast growled. "My name is Howard Stark. I didn't, because you came back alone when you could have come with a mob."


	3. Chapter 3

Steve whistled to himself as he got ready for another day. Today he would go on some errands for the people of the village. Since he had come home from the war it was his way of making money for food and other goods he needed.

He chopped wood, he ran errands, he went hunting and he helped build or repair houses. It was his way of life now.

Later he would visit the beast, 'Howard' he corrected himself, again, just like he had several times the last month. He couldn't remember when he had last spent the whole day or evening at home but he felt... happier than he had in a long time.

A knock at the door broke him out of his musings and he went to open it.

"What is up with you?" Peggy asked as she shouldered her way past Steve and into his house before he had even opened it more than a gap.

"Hello Peggy." He said as he greeted her with a smile and closed the door behind her.

She threw a skeptical glance his way at his cheerful manner. Then her gaze softened. "What happened?" She asked gentler than before as she grabbed his hands. "Not that I don't like to see you happy for a change." She added. "But this is so unlike you. I've rarely seen you around these past weeks and you come home late or not at all."

Steve carefully untangled their hands and rubbed at his neck. "It's nothing. I've just been busy." He muttered and swallowed around the lump in his throat when he saw Peggy's face. She wore her 'I don't believe you and I will find out what you are hiding'-look.

"Is it a woman?" She inquired after a pause which sent Steve into a sputter. "N-No! Who should I start to see in this small village?"

"There is Lorraine. She's pretty. And interested." Peggy mused with a little wicked smile that disappeared when Steve took her hand in his again. The hand wearing a wedding band.

"No. She's not who I want." He sighed. "I miss you." He whispered a moment later.

Now it was Peggy's turn to swallow. She squeezed his hand in hers. "Me too. I miss you too. I'm sorry for prying. It's not my place anymore." She said quietly and took a step back. "Please take care, Steve." With those words she turned on her heel and with a sad smile on her lips let herself out of his house.

Keeping his face and mind blank Steve finished getting ready and soon after left his cottage as well. When his feet touched the street in front of his door he plastered a pleasant smile on his face and went about his day. There was no need to make people talk more about the soldier who had returned home from the war without his best friend, scarred and quiet. About the man who had lost his girlfriend to someone else because he had woken up screaming and crying from nightmares and had attacked her. Nearly killed her too, they whispered.

It was late afternoon when Steve stepped onto the clearing of the Stark's manor. No matter how much Steve had pried Howard hadn't told him about what had happened to his family or why he was now a beast. Every time Steve asked, Howard hunched his back and blatantly changed the topic to something else entirely.

By now the soldier entered the house through the front door which, as Howard pointed out to him, was always open. There was no need to climb in through any windows.

Steve wandered through the empty corridors and walked down the stairs into the basement. Howard was in his workshop most of the time anyway. Only rarely could he be found anywhere else. Except maybe when he went out to hunt or was in his library. Sometimes he wandered the forest around his property.

Howard was hunched over the workbench and fiddling with a bit of machinery. The screwdriver looked tiny in his hand as he was trying and failing to hold a piece of metal steady with the too big claws of the other.

Steve started to offer his help when Howard let out a howl that was part rage and part anguish as he threw the tools against the wall where they shattered and then punched a clawed fist straight through the solid wood of the workbench.

Steve flinched back. This was how the shelves and all the other furniture in the house must have been broken, he realized. He was suddenly reminded of how strong Howard must be under all that fur that hid his muscles.

Just then there was a noise upstairs and Howard spun around with a growl rising from deep within his chest. His eyes were narrowed to slits and his fangs bared. Steve involuntarily took another step away to a safer distance, pressing his body against the wall to make himself smaller, to be seen as less of a target to the raging beast.

Howard didn't even spare him so much of a glance before he jumped past him and ran up the stairs on all four paws, deepening the scratches in the stones of the steps as he went.

Steve leaned against the wall and took a deep shuddering breath. Then he took chase and followed.

The sight that greeted his eyes when he came to a stop on top of the stairs nearly let his blood freeze in his veins.

The beast held Peggy with one big claw pressed against the wall of the corridor. His head was close to hers and he was growling at her. Her face was pale but in a swift motion she dislocated his claw from her chest and kicked at his leg, forcing him to a knee. But in the next moment he was upright again and had his claws wrapped around her throat again and had moved the rest of his body out of range of her kicking legs. Her other arm was pinned down and her other hand clawed at his furry arm.

"Howard, let her go!" Steve shouted as he ran over. He wrestled one of Howard's arms away from Peggy and moved protectively in front of her, causing Howard to let her go and focus on Steve instead.

"You can't just attack people like that!" Steve screamed at him, stepping chest to chest with him and forcing him back.

"This is my house. She will leave at once!" Howard growled, crowding them both against the wall threateningly before he ran back to his workshop; but not without throwing a chest full of drawers against the opposite wall, splintering the wood.

Steve breathed deeply when he had gone. Then he turned around to face Peggy. "What are you doing here? Are you mad?" He hissed. He was angry with both of them, at Peggy for coming and at Howard for attacking her.

Peggy looked him square in the eye and lifted her chin in challenge. But her hand was trembling where it lay over her stomach protectively. "I wanted to know what you were up to." She said. A moment later she sighed slightly. "What is this thing?" She asked. "Why are you here with this beast? Weren't the werewolves enough for you?"

"He's not a beast." Steve said and ran a hand through the hair at the base of his skull. "Ok he is something of a beast. His name is Howard. Howard Stark." He sighed.

Peggy looked at him in disbelief. "Howard Stark? The inventor? The Howard Stark of the Stark family that disappeared years ago?" She leaned against the wall to steady herself.

"Yes. I don't know what happened. He's not talking about it." Steve muttered. "Please don't tell anyone," he begged her, "I will find out what happened."

Peggy didn't look convinced. "Alright. I will be silent." She relented. "But you better introduce me to him properly, since he's already taking up so much of your time." She teased shakily and watched with a satisfied expression on her face how Steve started to sputter at that.

After Steve had brought Peggy to the edge of the clearing he wandered the mansion. He was still angry with Howard for attacking his best friend. His heart was still beating a bit too fast in his chest and there was a slight tremble to his hands. He never wanted to loose Peggy too. Especially not to anything but old age. That was why he had let Peggy go. Why he had let Peggy move on to Gabe.

Steve sighed heavily and made his way upstairs. He didn't want to talk to Howard right now. Upstairs he walked past the sleeping quarters he had investigated the first few days. Now he stepped into one of the only two rooms he had not been in due to Howard having previously growled at him as he had tried to touch the doorknobs.

The first room seemed to be the place Howard slept in. A bed stood against one wall but the mattress was stripped of any bedding. Instead the bedding lay on the ground beside a big fireplace, along with extra pillows and blankets, giving the appearance of a big nest.

Steve wondered how lonely Howard was, living here all alone the last years. He couldn't remember for how long this place had stood empty. He walked to the second room and stepped into what he instantly recognized as a nursery. There were little planes hanging from the ceiling over a small bed and toys lay scattered on the floor. Amongst the toys were little robots that Steve was sure had been built by Howard.  
In a corner stood a narrow shelf and Steve walked over to it. It held a frame, the same one he had seen in Howard's workshop when they had first talked to each other. After that day he had not seen it again. Now Steve picked it up and looked at it. It was the picture of a small family. A woman held a small boy who looked to be around five years old in her arms. Beside them stood a man with dark hair and a thin mustache. On his face was a pale smile while his wife, Steve supposed, was grinning widely as did their child. Steve turned on his heel and left the nursery behind. He took the photo with him.

A few minutes later he reached the basement and stepped into Howard's workshop again. The beast was picking up shards of the broken table and piling them up near the door, but stopped when he saw Steve and what he was holding.

Howard looked from the frame in his hand to the determined expression on Steve's face and hunched his back. "What?" he asked gruffly.

Steve walked over to stand in front of the beast. He held the picture up so Howard could see it. "This is your family, right?" Howard nodded his affirmation to the question. "What happened?" Steve asked while staring straight into the inventor's eyes. Howard broke their gaze and looked away. He was silent, but as it became obvious that Steve wouldn't back down he relented.

"It was a curse that turned me into this." He gestured to his form. "My wife and son left." With that he turned around and began to clean up the mess again that had been left on his work table.

"Why were you cursed?" Steve asked as he moved to help the creature.

Howard shrugged with one shoulder. "Someone thought that I didn't spend enough time with my family and spent too much time inventing...and being absent." He answered without looking at Steve. "Guess the curse only marginally helped." He added.

Steve mulled the new information over. "Why didn't you kill me that first time?" He finally asked.

"You reminded me of my son." Howard murmured. After a pause he continued. "When I was changed into this... I got... angry. I attacked him. And when I saw you… you were so scared and you looked too much like him in that moment."

Steve looked at him in shock.

"He is alright. His mother took him with her when she left." Howard explained.

"Is there a cure?" Steve asked.

"Not that I know of." Howard whispered and focused on what he was doing, deliberately ignoring Steve.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey Howard." Steve called out when he entered the mansion. It was winter and the snow laid thick outside. In the foyer's fireplace a fire roared and Steve stepped in front of it to warm his frozen hands. "Howard?" Steve inquired again and a moment later the gruff voice of the beast reached his ears.

"What?"

"Can I take a bath at your place?" Steve asked him when he finally stepped into view. Howard looked at him, at the thick clothes he was wearing and the bluish shade his lips were undoubtedly turning. Then he nodded.

Steve watched as Howard went and got a couple of buckets out of a storage room. Together they filled them with snow from outside. Howard then started a fire in one of the larger fireplaces to melt and warm the ice in a kettle. One bucket at a time they filled the bathtub in the bathroom on the second floor of the house until the water was high enough for Steve to step inside.

Steve laid a towel he had found beside the basin and then proceeded to undress. A few years ago he would have been self-conscious of the scars he had acquired in battle. "Wait. I want to ask you something." He called out to Howard, who had abruptly turned around when Steve's shirt had hit the floor.

"What is it now?" He growled with his back to Steve.

Steve opened his trousers and pushed them to the floor, lifting his feet to step out of them. As he hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his boxers and pulled them down his legs he answered. "I wanted to ask you if it was alright for me to bring Peggy here in a few days. I want you two to get to know each other." After a few moments of silence in which he stood as naked as the day he was born, he continued. "I could cook something for you two." Goosebumps rose on his skin and made him step into the bathtub. A moan escaped him as the warm water enveloped him and one of Howard's ears twitched back towards him.

"Ah. Alright." Howard stuttered and quickly hurried out of the room. Steve watched him go with a bemused and bewildered smile, before leaning back in the warm water and resting his head on the edge of the tub.  
Soon he would have to tell Howard of his other visit.

A few days later Steve stood in the beast's kitchen and prepared everything for the meal he would be serving later in the day. He was going to cook something his mother had taught him. As he continued his preparations, Steve lifted his head and glanced out of the window in front of him. There was still a thick blanket of snow covering the lawn. And there... there was the blue feathered bird again, being chased by the beast.

Howard looked like he was saying something or maybe he was barking at the bird. Steve couldn't tell through the glass. He was swiping at the bird with his claws, unable to catch it. The bird was too swift and seemed to play with him. It was flying slow enough to touch a tip of its wing to his nose or flick an ear but every time Howard made a grab for it, it flew out of his reach. The beast looked livid.

Steve contemplated going outside or taking a shot at the bird, when it suddenly disappeared. Stunned he let the knife with which he had been chopping up vegetables drop. Howard was looking off to something in the distance, but Steve couldn't see anything.

A moment later he shrugged. It wasn't like it wasn't weird for a man to be turned into a beast, even in their world. Disappearing birds were not the strangest thing that he had seen in the last few months. But he couldn't help but wonder what that bird was anyway. An ordinary bird? Even with that unusual color in their part of the world? Maybe it had just flown away too quickly for his eyes to follow.

Smiling, Steve held out a hand to Peggy to help her out of the carriage. "Maybe it would have been better to wait until after you had your child." He mused as he took a look at her round belly.

"Don't be silly. I'm not due, yet, and I doubt I will have a lot of time once the baby is born. And besides, you knew I was pregnant, when you asked."

He looked sheepishly at her and steadied her when she slipped on the frozen ground as they walked to the manor. "We haven't seen each other in a while." He admitted and frowned.

Peggy patted his arm, which he had slung around her, and opened her mouth to say something but froze when she noticed the beast standing at the top of the stairs. "Not going to attack me again, are you?" she challenged.

Howard huffed. "Who do you think sent the carriage to get you?" Steve held his tongue on just how long it had taken him to convince Howard of the carriage being both necessity and a nice gesture, to which Howard had just grumbled but relented at last.

Howard waited until they had come up the stairs until he spoke up again. "Welcome to my manor, Agent Carter." He said and bowed slightly before leading them inside.

While they were walking, with Peggy's arm hooked under Steve's, Howard kept glancing at her stomach until Peggy finally snapped. "What? Never seen a pregnant woman before?"

"Of course I have." He sniffed. "Just never smelled one before." He added after a moment and visibly inhaled her scent to make her uncomfortable. It didn't work. She slapped his nose quickly when he drew too near and made him rear back with a yelp.

"Don't sniff me, Stark." She said and pulled Steve after her and into the dining room with her chin held high.  
Steve suppressed a snort and smiled back at Howard who was growling, but followed them.

Howard gently nudged Steve aside when he made to tried to pull a chair out for the agent so that he could do it himself. When the beast helped her sit down, he leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Well played, Mrs. Carter, well played." to which she turned around to smile at him.

Steve left the room and with Howard's help he set the table.

"This looks truly delicious, Steve." Peggy said in delight.

Both men took their seats and silently they ate.

"The father of your child…is he good to you?" Howard spoke up gruffly after a while, looking down at where only barely the top of Peggy's stomach could be seen over the table.

"Yes. Gabe is wonderful." She said and quickly glanced at Steve. He smiled gently at her. After all this time he was ok with it, finally.

"Howard. May I ask you something?" Peggy asked, leaning back in her chair and folding her hands over the bulge of her stomach. The beast gave a nod and looked at her.

"What are your designs on Steve?"

Howard and the man in question both stared at her in surprise. Or rather, Howard in surprise and Steve in horror. Was this going to be 'The Talk?'

When Howard was silent she continued. "If you ever hurt him, I will come and do many painful things to you. Well?" She gave him one of her most sinister smiles, which had made many dangerous man rear back from her in fear in the past. Howard stared her down.

"And what do you, little woman, think you could do to me?" He challenged her and Steve beat down the urge to cover his face with a palm. Instead he fidgeted in his chair and turned his head to the side to take a calming breath and suppress a laugh.

Peggy held Howard's gaze until he looked away. "Oh, I will think of something." She said simply.

Later that same day, after Steve had brought Peggy to the carriage that would bring her home, he and Howard sat on a sheepskin rug in front of a blazing fireplace in his old office. It was still one of Howard's favorite places, along with his workshop; he had told Steve after they had gotten to know each other.

Howard was more lying than sitting in front of the fire, letting it warm his body with Steve leaning against his side and pulling a brush through the tangles in Howard's fur. A ritual they had started after Howard had gotten back from a hunt with it dirty and unkempt and had thrown a tantrum when he had tried to get it clean on his own. In fact the beast looked much cleaner now that Steve was a regular guest in the manor, Steve mused. In the privacy of his own mind he could admit to loving the dark-brown fur, which was almost black in the right light. After it was brushed it was soft and almost silky. Steve enjoyed the feel of it against his palms. When he could get away with it he ran his fingers through it. Sometimes it made Howard purr.

Outside the sun had set and Steve was reluctant to return to his lonely cottage. "Can I tell you something?" Steve asked breaking what had been a comfortable silence.

"Yes." Howard rumbled.

"There will be another visit in a few days but it's me who will have to go." He said quietly.

"This is the second time in only a week that you tell me of a visit." Howard growled in bemusement but asked. "Where will you go?"

"I want to visit my mother beyond the mountains. She's too old to travel so far." Steve explained.

Howard was silent for so long that the soldier started to worry and nervously tugged at a strand of fur under his hand. "Are you mad?" he asked.

"No." Howard said but the beast wasn't looking at him and a few silent moments later Howard got up and left the room.

Steve lay down in the spot the beast had vacated and closed his eyes with a tired sigh.

"Do you have everything you need?" Howard asked him for what was surely the third time, making Steve sigh.

"It's not like I will travel only with the clothes on my back and I don't have a lot of stuff at your place. I need to go to my cottage first anyway." Steve chided and smiled when the beast shuffled his feet and looked to the ground.

"I know that." Howard sulked. "Just make sure that you take anything you need with you." He repeated.

Steve laughed at his sheepish expression. "Take care of yourself while I'm gone." He said with a smile.

"You too." Howard replied. "And send Peggy a message, when you have arrived safely." he added.

Awkwardly they stood in front of each other, both looking towards the ground, staring at their feet. Steve ran a hand nervously through his hair and saw Howard fiddling his claws.

"Travel well." Howard finally said and looked up through his lashes at Steve from his hunched over position.

Steve smiled at him. "Don't do anything stupid until I get back." He teased as Howard growled at him playfully. Without thinking about it Steve leaned forward and pressed a kiss on Howard's nose. Then he quickly turned on his heel and walked away from the beast. Steve stopped at the gate to look back one last time. The strange blue feathered bird had landed on Howard's shoulder and as he watched it stretched out its wings and softly brushed its tip against Howard's cheek.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been a few weeks already since Steve had left his house and Howard couldn't help but be surprised at how much he missed him. Restlessly he wandered his own manor. He could barely eat or sleep.

It reminded him of when he had his big plans in the past, when he had still been human and had lived with his family in the manor. The machinery he had built and the way he hadn't come out of his workshop for days. How he had forgotten to sleep and forgotten to eat and every time he had closed his eyes a new idea, a new plan or a new method popped into his head.

Now every time he tried to lie down and sleep it was Steve's face he saw. His bright blue eyes and his smile. Howard growled to himself in annoyance. What was wrong with him?

With erratic movements he wrung his clawed hands and paced around the house. His feet led him to the places Steve had liked the most. The library, the kitchen, the big fireplace on the second floor where Steve had brushed out his fur and Howard's workshop.

In his old office he found Steve's sketchbook lying beside the fireplace. The pages inside were filled with Howard. Sketches of him. Close ups from his head and scenes of his life. The way he sat on the stool in his workshop and tended to spin a screwdriver in his hand. The way he sometimes sat in his library and read with a book dwarfed in his hands and claws delicately posed lest he damage the fragile pages. There were even some in which he was hunting. Crouched down and ready to jump forward. Steve had even caught the way the light had shone on his fur. In his sketches Steve had captured something Howard had never seen in the years he had spent as a beast so far, a body that wasn't horrible or something to be hated. He was reminded of the kiss Steve had given him before he had gone away.

A stab of pain flashed through his chest and he hunched over, knees nearly giving out from under him. Then he heard a noise coming from behind him. A gentle chiding that was all too familiar.

Howard turned around.

The blue singing bird had flown in through a window and with a flash a beautiful black haired woman with a blue dress stood before him in its place.

"Hello Maria." He growled.

A smile tugged at the woman's lips. "I missed you too." She said sarcastically.

Howard jumped and swiped at her with his claws. Maria dodged him easily.

Thin, barely visible tendrils of shadows held him still a moment later. "Ts ts ts, is that the way to greet your wife?" she drawled.

"Ex-wife." Howard corrected her with a growl and bared his sharp teeth at her. When it became clear that he would not be able to free himself from her magic he stopped his struggle. It wasn't like he had been able to the first time she had, nor the second or the third.

He glared at her as she stared back unmoved.  
"How is Tony?" He asked finally to break the silence, eyes downcast.

It was only as she placed a hand under his chin and lifted it to see into his eyes that she answered. "He is fine."

Howard didn't ask if Tony missed him; too scared was he of the answer he was sure that would come.

Maria seemed to know what he was thinking. She only smiled sadly but didn't console him. They both knew that he didn't deserve that.

"What are you doing here?" Howard broke the silence when it became too long to bear.

She sighed softly. "I want to give you your second chance." She said. "Do you love that boy?" She smiled again at his dumb-founded expression. "And don't answer that you still love me. We both know that isn't true."

"But I do. I still do." He whispered.

Maria laughed brokenly. "Yes. You might, the times you don't hate me for what I did. I never did give you the option of breaking your curse." She mused. "But I've watched you with the boy and I think..." She paused and tilted her head to look at him critically. "Yes I think it might work. Don't fuck it up this time." She waved her hands. Outside there was the sound of a carriage pulling up in front of the house.

There was no bright light but Howard shouted in alarm when *something* invisible covered him and seemed to seep into his body through his pores. His body jerked and he could feel skin and muscle and bone shift. It hurt. It hurt so much. He screamed.

Steve heard a scream from inside the house as he climbed out of the carriage. It sounded like Howard and with fear constricting his chest he started to run. He nearly slipped on the frozen stairs but he kept on moving. "HOWARD!" He shouted. The scream held on and turned into something almost inhuman in nature. Steve stumbled forward, pushing at the doors that almost felt like they opened on their own, nearly letting him fall onto the ground. He turned into the direction of the sound and sprinted up the stairs and into Howard's office.

He stopped at what he saw. A man was kneeling slumped over in front of a black-haired woman in a blue dress, who smiled at him when she saw him. The color reminded him of the blue feathered bird and in the back of his head he made the connection but all he could focus on was the man. With a quick wave of her hand the woman disappeared and the man swayed and threatened to fall to his side. Steve was beside him in a second and caught him in his arms. The man was naked except for the loin cloth wrapped around his waist; it had fit his previous form perfectly but now it threatened to slip down his hips which were narrower now, after his transformation. He felt so small in Steve's arms.

Steve arranged the limp head on his shoulder so he could look into his face and the man, Howard he reminded himself, returned the favor. He looked exactly like he did in the photo, down to the thin mustache.

"Oh. You're back." Howard whispered, barely opening his eyes. His voice was different from before. Steve thought that maybe he would miss the beast's deep voice and drawing his fingers through the thick and, surprisingly, soft fur but he thought that Howard's real voice and hair was pleasant too.

He also realized that he enjoyed the feel of that lean body he held in his arms and the naked skin pressing against, Howard's warmth seeping through his clothing. His face grew hot and he started to pull away. The man was practically naked!

Howard's hands gripping at the back of Steve's shirt prevented him from getting far.  
"Don't. I hope you weren't too attached to the beast's form." Howard said and pulled him forward into a kiss.


End file.
